Why is it so freakin hard for James to get his bike set up right?

rcm406
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rcm406
Edited Date/Time 5/29/2013 12:24pm
Year after year, it's the same crap with bike set up and tire selection with him! RV & RD always seem to have the perfect set up! It may just be his go to excuse, but damn, it can't be that hard to set up a bike with all the resources he has!
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SwapperMX
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SwapperMX 5/26/2013 7:03am
5/26/2013 7:03am
That comment he made on the podium was interesting. As if a decision was made for him regarding bike set up. And he wasn't sure about it. But 15 minutes in to the second moto, he understood and was glad the change was made. As for what it was, who knows. I'm not sure he can run Villo's pace, as much as I and many others want him to.
dantheman
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dantheman 5/26/2013 7:13am
5/26/2013 7:13am Edited Date/Time 5/26/2013 7:13am
As many of you know, there are those who feel James is God's gift to MoTo... given that, it takes a bike crafted by the Creator himself for James to ride at his amazing "Fastest Man on the Planet" speed!

So are we back at "it's the bike", or like I saw a post last week that "it's the tires"... he qualifies extremely well, I do know that.
WhKnuckle
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WhKnuckle 5/26/2013 7:15am
5/26/2013 7:15am
Some guys are great testers who can get a bike perfect and some are great riders who can't get a bike perfect. In my humble opinion, James needs to hire Kevin Windham to set up the bike, and not even ask anything about it. Just take the bike from Kevin, say, "Thanks", and go out and ride. Don't even think about the bike, just ride.
sharkey
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sharkey 5/26/2013 7:26am
5/26/2013 7:26am
WhKnuckle wrote:
Some guys are great testers who can get a bike perfect and some are great riders who can't get a bike perfect. In my humble opinion...
Some guys are great testers who can get a bike perfect and some are great riders who can't get a bike perfect. In my humble opinion, James needs to hire Kevin Windham to set up the bike, and not even ask anything about it. Just take the bike from Kevin, say, "Thanks", and go out and ride. Don't even think about the bike, just ride.
maybe this was done for him in the past because back in the old days james only crashed because he tried stuff no one would even dare do. hes definately not the same guy he was when he raced ricky.

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dantheman
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dantheman 5/26/2013 7:28am
5/26/2013 7:28am
I don't think I'll be the only one to say this WhKnuckle, but it would be TOTALLY impossible for KDUB to set up Bubba's bike! Period.
WhKnuckle
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WhKnuckle 5/26/2013 7:29am
5/26/2013 7:29am
dantheman wrote:
I don't think I'll be the only one to say this WhKnuckle, but it would be TOTALLY impossible for KDUB to set up Bubba's bike! Period.
Unfortunately, it also seems impossible for Bubba to set up Bubba's bike.
Flip109
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Flip109 5/26/2013 7:50am
5/26/2013 7:50am
Nobody's bike set up is good when RV is Kicking their ass
coolhand
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coolhand 5/26/2013 7:53am
5/26/2013 7:53am
Really? damn..Opra has gotten to a lot of you guys..Its over..he will never be the man...Damn TC rebounds from a broken back and its set up issue with JS?
ImTheDude
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ImTheDude 5/26/2013 7:55am
5/26/2013 7:55am
Because he should have never left Kawasaki.
gsxrcr28
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gsxrcr28 5/26/2013 7:57am
5/26/2013 7:57am
Flip109 wrote:
Nobody's bike set up is good when RV is Kicking their ass
Exactly!

I think it was Matthes who asked James about bike set up, and James said he finds it funny when people say he cant set up a bike cause he never had any problem setting up his Kawasaki's. He did hire Ferry to help with the Yamaha but Ferry said that bike gave him nightmares. He seemed to have the Suzuki working good the first four motos last year. The Ryan's are just faster right now, not sure if its his knee, wrist or age or what but that's just the way it is.
jmar
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jmar 5/26/2013 8:00am
5/26/2013 8:00am
WhKnuckle wrote:
Some guys are great testers who can get a bike perfect and some are great riders who can't get a bike perfect. In my humble opinion...
Some guys are great testers who can get a bike perfect and some are great riders who can't get a bike perfect. In my humble opinion, James needs to hire Kevin Windham to set up the bike, and not even ask anything about it. Just take the bike from Kevin, say, "Thanks", and go out and ride. Don't even think about the bike, just ride.
sharkey wrote:
maybe this was done for him in the past because back in the old days james only crashed because he tried stuff no one would even...
maybe this was done for him in the past because back in the old days james only crashed because he tried stuff no one would even dare do. hes definately not the same guy he was when he raced ricky.
Tim Ferry use to help set up Stewart's bike.
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kongols 5/26/2013 8:04am
5/26/2013 8:04am Edited Date/Time 5/26/2013 8:18am
That bike bounces around like a pogo stick. Maybe he likes it that way.
colonel
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colonel 5/26/2013 8:11am
5/26/2013 8:11am
DV12 sometime ago made a very good comment in and around how James' bike looked good at the beginning of the season and by the end of it before he pulled out the series, it looked so wrongly set up and went backwards with settings and hence the crashes I presume.

I also think he had pictures but I am not 100% sure on that but it was a interesting post/comment about it.
Outsider
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Outsider 5/26/2013 8:14am
5/26/2013 8:14am
I noticed his forks have stopped moving again.... maybe it's his input that is the problem.
gsxrcr28
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gsxrcr28 5/26/2013 8:20am
5/26/2013 8:20am
The bright side is if the bike is set up that bad and they can find the right settings then he should start winning again. To me yesterday in practice and the first moto were the only time the bike looked terrible.
newmann
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newmann 5/26/2013 8:40am
5/26/2013 8:40am
Anyone here think Stewart could disassemble a set of forks, let alone reassemble them?
gsxrcr28
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gsxrcr28 5/26/2013 8:43am
5/26/2013 8:43am
newmann wrote:
Anyone here think Stewart could disassemble a set of forks, let alone reassemble them?
I would say no factory rider could.
DrSweden
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DrSweden 5/26/2013 8:54am
5/26/2013 8:54am
Flip109 wrote:
Nobody's bike set up is good when RV is Kicking their ass
This.

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ButteryWaffles 5/26/2013 8:56am
5/26/2013 8:56am
newmann wrote:
Anyone here think Stewart could disassemble a set of forks, let alone reassemble them?
Carmichael made a quote as a young gun saying he only knew where the throttle was and where the gas went... wonder if thats still true to these factory guys.
jmar
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jmar 5/26/2013 8:57am
5/26/2013 8:57am
I am glad to see that he's still riding. But the truth of the matter is that he's both mentality and physically drained and no matter how much some are hoping to see the old James, it's not going to happen.

He was one of the best this sport has ever seen.
tvo314
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tvo314 5/26/2013 10:07am
5/26/2013 10:07am
Remember, he's not the only one whose bike set up is preventing him from running Villo's pace. I don't necessarily believe that, but lets not pretend he's the only one mentioning bike set up.
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dirtnapper 5/26/2013 10:17am
5/26/2013 10:17am
jmar wrote:
I am glad to see that he's still riding. But the truth of the matter is that he's both mentality and physically drained and no matter...
I am glad to see that he's still riding. But the truth of the matter is that he's both mentality and physically drained and no matter how much some are hoping to see the old James, it's not going to happen.

He was one of the best this sport has ever seen.
Could not be truer
edgo897
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edgo897 5/26/2013 10:17am
5/26/2013 10:17am
It's an RM. You give up stability so that it will turn under anything. Isn't it that way by design?
bullpen658
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bullpen658 5/26/2013 10:24am
5/26/2013 10:24am
If it's true that JS can't set up his bike, that is the first and only thing he and I have in common. I had no idea we were so similar.
THE_NOOB
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THE_NOOB 5/26/2013 10:35am
5/26/2013 10:35am
It's not the Bike, that RMZ 450 is set up to perfection for these top level riders and have parts available to them that nobody else can get. This seems to be a common theme with Bubba where his fans always want to blame his bike. Swap bikes and put Villopoto on that RMZ and Bubba on that KXF and it would just be more of the same, RV 1-1
lostboy819 5/26/2013 10:35am
5/26/2013 10:35am
dantheman wrote:
I don't think I'll be the only one to say this WhKnuckle, but it would be TOTALLY impossible for KDUB to set up Bubba's bike! Period.
WhKnuckle wrote:
Unfortunately, it also seems impossible for Bubba to set up Bubba's bike.
Laughing Laughing
Moto Soul Mag
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Moto Soul Mag 5/26/2013 10:58am
5/26/2013 10:58am
It's a long season. Don't write off JS7 just yet please. Grinning
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kongols 5/26/2013 10:59am
5/26/2013 10:59am
THE_NOOB wrote:
It's not the Bike, that RMZ 450 is set up to perfection for these top level riders and have parts available to them that nobody else...
It's not the Bike, that RMZ 450 is set up to perfection for these top level riders and have parts available to them that nobody else can get. This seems to be a common theme with Bubba where his fans always want to blame his bike. Swap bikes and put Villopoto on that RMZ and Bubba on that KXF and it would just be more of the same, RV 1-1
Pretty soon RV is gonna start complaining about bite marks from your blowing him too hard. Everyone sees RV`s a guy to beat you don`t have to diminish other guy`s to prove how good RV is.
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brimx153 5/26/2013 11:04am
5/26/2013 11:04am
colonel wrote:
DV12 sometime ago made a very good comment in and around how James' bike looked good at the beginning of the season and by the end...
DV12 sometime ago made a very good comment in and around how James' bike looked good at the beginning of the season and by the end of it before he pulled out the series, it looked so wrongly set up and went backwards with settings and hence the crashes I presume.

I also think he had pictures but I am not 100% sure on that but it was a interesting post/comment about it.
think he said when he went to suzuki last year ,he had so little time to set up the bike , the team did it , and thats why the bike looked awsome , and as the more testing he did , the more he messed up his settings and the bike did nt look as good , think every pro rider one comment on the rmz is its the best handling bike out there , maybe james should listen to the team more , ? even when RC moved to suzuki , Roger D changed ricky mind on how to set up a bike ,maybe a more coventional set up would help bubba more after he gets use to it , just like it did with ricky , instead of the mad honda set up he had , ps i know ricky went 24/0 with that mad set up , but was able to get even faster when he moved to suzuki and bet james
BobbyM
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BobbyM 5/26/2013 11:12am
5/26/2013 11:12am
THE_NOOB wrote:
It's not the Bike, that RMZ 450 is set up to perfection for these top level riders and have parts available to them that nobody else...
It's not the Bike, that RMZ 450 is set up to perfection for these top level riders and have parts available to them that nobody else can get. This seems to be a common theme with Bubba where his fans always want to blame his bike. Swap bikes and put Villopoto on that RMZ and Bubba on that KXF and it would just be more of the same, RV 1-1
"ARE YOU A PETER PUFFER"?

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